It is at this time of the year many devout people question the real meaning of this, the most religiously festive of all seasons. Ok, for over 50 years, I confess to having enjoyed putting up the tree, seeing it glimmer with colorful lights and our family collection of priceless ornaments, but I have never lost sight of the most important decoration of all and that is our priceless Hummel Nativity Set.
The set was a wedding gift from my favorite maiden aunt in 1966. It stayed with us until this past summer when I decided to give it to my youngest child. It was bequeathed to him by his late mother and he wanted it badly because he had such wonderful memories associated with it.
The departure of our centerpiece left an enormous hole in our celebratory decorations plan this season. While the one we replaced it with was not as decorative or as valuable as my original, the new one was ours, that is my wife, Anna’s and mine. That in itself made it valuable to us.
Believers will always know that December is the time for advent, prayer, confession, sacrifice, gift-giving and most importantly the celebration of the birth of the of the Christ Child, the Savior of the World, incarnate. To recent times, the bifurcated nature of an American Christmas had lived in, if not perfect harmony, at least in peaceful co-existence.
But I guess when the situation is split between religion and ideology, the mixture is more like oil and water. The times have changed so radically that the people who favor the Christ-centered Christmas are dwindling rapidly. The annual plea for celebrating the true meaning of Christmas seems to be declining as many of us aging Catholics lose the ability or the will to continue it.
The secularists have made so much ground in taking Christ out of His own birthday party that few will try to defend the true meaning of Christmas. So maybe instead of denouncing this revolutionary denial of the King of Peace, perhaps we should start by questioning people who prefer the amorphous term, The Winter Solstice, to explain just what meaning this should have for all people since they have literally forced or coerced millions to utter the innocuous, yet sterile, Happy Holidays. And we should subject them to the most common-sensical scrutiny we can muster.
Does anyone have a valid answer to the real meaning of the Winter Solstice and why it should replace the traditions of a Christ-oriented celebration? Let me try to fathom just what their answers could be. First of all, they would say ours is inclusive. We welcome everyone! Oh really, everyone except the millions of Christians who have believed for a millennium that December is the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians need not apply in colorful lights should be their true mantra.
Secondly, they would say that Christmas is divisive and hateful and theirs is unifying and loving. Oh really, I always thought it was already the season for peace on earth and good will toward men. The divisiveness started when they tried to do away with an established celebration with rancor and legal coercion, not to mention their dubious constitutional foundations.
Thirdly, men do not relish a spirituality that is Church-dominated. Everyone should be able to worship the god of their choice. OK, I can relate to that, but I suggest they find another week to exhibit their celebrations, such as the Jewish people do with Hanukkah. We had this one first! Just leave the week of December 25th alone. That’s what people in a free country do. These people act like secular theocrats.
With their animus towards Christianity and desire for a Holiday without Christ, I can only assume that theirs is a pure negative celebration, hell-bent on destroying any surviving vestiges of Christianity, not only in this country, but in every nook and cranny in the entire world. Their hatred of Jesus and his followers is palpable and extremely determined and financed by the powers that relish a world without God and his oppressive moral principles. Forget about the War on Christmas, these secular warriors have established a scorched earth policy that will someday establish, not a utopian paradise but dystopian hell on earth.
So, I suggest that the true meaning of the Winter Solstice is that it serves as a euphemism for a Winter Moral Graveyard, devoid of faith, hope and love.
Merry Christmas, to all, and a good night.